Question
How are Windows updates applied to computers at the college?
Answer
Windows updates are divided into three main categories: Monthly Updates, Daily Updates, and Urgent Hotfixes.
Monthly Updates
Monthly updates are released by Microsoft on the second Tuesday of each month. Once the updates are released, ITS deploys them to college computers in groups over several days. For faculty and staff computers, these deployments have two phases:
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Available Phase
At 5:00 PM on the first day of deployment for a given group, users will receive a notification from Software Center informing them that updates are available. The user can install the updates from Software Center on their own, or the computer will install the updates during the overnight maintenance window (between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM). If the computer is off or in a sleep state, the updates may not install overnight.
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Deadline Phase
24 hours after the updates become available to a deployment group, the deployment enters the deadline phase. At this point, updates will install automatically (even if it is outside the overnight maintenance window). If the update requires a restart, the user will be prompted. The restart can be delayed for up to two hours. If the user chooses to delay the restart, they will receive reminders every 10 minutes, followed by a final countdown during the last 15 minutes before the restart is automatically triggered.
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If a device is shut down, put into sleep mode, or disconnected from the network, before updates are available or the deadline is reached, it will behave as if it is already in the deadline phase the next time it powers on and connects to the ITS system.
For computer labs and classroom podiums, updates are also deployed in groups but without the two-phase process. Updates are made available at 5:00 PM and installed as soon as possible; if a restart is required, it can only occur during the overnight maintenance window. This is why it is important to leave classroom podium and lab computers powered on at the end of the day.
Currently, ITS uses three groups to divide the college’s computers for deploying updates. Each group's deployment is staggered by one day. Usually by Friday, the updates have been made available to all computers at the college. (ITS may occasionally delay the deployment for various reasons.)
Daily Updates
Daily updates are much smaller and have a simpler deployment process than Monthly Updates. They usually contain only Windows Defender library files. These updates are small and do not require a restart.
ITS deploys these updates using the same grouping as Monthly Updates but with only a one-hour delay between each group. Daily updates typically begin deploying to the first group around 3:30 PM, with the last group receiving the update around 6:30 PM. The exact release time of the Windows Defender updates can vary, so there is occasionally some variation in when ITS is able to begin deployment.
Urgent Hotfixes
Urgent Hotfixes are very uncommon and are usually the result of severe vulnerabilities or major bugs in the Windows operating system. Because of the uncommon nature of these updates, their deployment times are determined on an as-needed basis.
In most cases, they follow the usual deployment groups and restart rules used for Monthly Updates. In these situations, ITS will release communications about the updates to provide specific details of the deployment plan.